Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha camps divided on stir plans

KOZHIKODE: On the eve of the 13th anniversary of the martyrdom of Jogi, the trbal chieftain who was shot dead during the land struggle headed by Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha (AGMS) led by C.K. Janu in the Muthanga range of the Wayanad wildlife sanctuary, the divided camps of the AGMS would organise separate programmes.   It may be recalled that the 46-day  struggle had ended up in bloodshed with the killing of two persons- Jogy and Vinod, a police man, on February 19, 2003.  

One faction of AGMS led by Janu has already declared a land-grab   agitation at  four places in vested forest land allotted to the landless tribals in Wayanad on Thursday. The protest is on at  the same place   allotted to them with title deeds, but the government failed to demarcate the borders of the land allotted to each. The decision of Janu to join the NDA bandwagon during the last Assembly election  and her candidature in the Sulthan Bathery seat  floating a new party had resulted in a split in the AGMS. Janu’s mentor M. Geethanandan, the  brain behind the Muthanga agitation,  had declared the expulsion of Janu from AGMS. 

However,  Janu told DC that  about 100  families were on the warpath at  three locations-- Vellarimala in Vythiri taluk, Paplassery in Sulthan Bathery taluk and Valad in Mananthavadi taluk.    “We will fight  to get the land for all the landless. The Jogi commemoration on February 19  would prove that AGMS is undivided and still led by me,”  she added.    However, the  leaders of the other faction dismiss her claims as absurd. M. Geethanandan told DC that the land-grab agitation of Janu is an eyewash. That is the land given by the government to the tribals.

“They themselves were on agreement with the district administration to clear the underbrush and prepare the land for survey. Now they have started an agitation on the same land, which is a joke,”  says Geethanandan.    She just wanted to assert her existence as majority of the families left her, he said and added  that even the kith and kin of Jogi had left her and would join  the commemoration with the original AGMS.   The AGMS led by Geethanandan would organise the commemoration at Thettamala with Gothrapooja on February 19. A ‘standing up’ agitation (Nilppusamaram) and rally also would be organized in Kalpetta on February 18.